In article <1993Jun26.164810.13008 at comp.bioz.unibas.ch> doelz at urz.unibas.ch writes:
>I would very much enjoy more discussion on this topic. Can someone comment
>on the availability of WCS in Europe, and its implementation (hardware,
>software, reliability)?
I have limited information about WCS as we run it in Boston. However
the biologist like it alot as it gives a good presentation. This is my
view of WCS. It is used as an extension to ACEDB (the worm database)
but it works fine on its own. ACEDB (the software) and WCS communicate
so that WCS can cause ACEDB windows to appear. WCS is a hypertext like
presentation of bibliographic literature but most interestingly it
also provides a facility were anyone can comment on a piece of
information in the database. So you can see that someone has stated a
fact and then make a comment--you disagree or you independently showed
the same thing, etc... WCS includes a text formatting and presentation
feature that makes the bibliographic information and comments look
very nice using fonts and size well. I understand WCS is being
completely rewritten and that the group in Arizona has stopped
updating the currently released version until the new version is done.
The last update to WCS was Feb of 1992. Maybe someone that was at the
worm meeting in Wisconsin a few weeks ago can add to the current state
of WCS.
The current WCS is written in C++, the source is not available.
Executables are available for SPARCs only. MOTIF is the X environment.
The current version loads slowly because all the data files are stored
in compressed form and uncompressed and read into memory at startup.
The files on the disk take up about 34MB. WCS is only used for worm
information, that is I have not seen anyone else using it.
Here are the first two paragraphs from the WCS copyright:
This is release 1.0 of the Worm Community System, July 1991.
This software is copyright 1991 by the Arizona Board of Regents.
The Worm Community System is designed and implemented by the
Community Systems Laboratory at the University of Arizona, Tucson.
Click on the logo within the system for full credits.
We are actively interested in your comments and suggestions.
These can be sent electronically to wcs at cs.arizona.edu .
Mike
--
J. Michael Cherry Project Manager, Yeast Genome Database
Stanford Genome Sequencing Center, Department of Genetics
Stanford University School of Medicine, Stanford, CA 94305-5120
Voice: 415-723-7541 FAX: 415-723-7016 Internet: cherry at genome.stanford.edu